Should Have Known Better
by Cute and Fluffy
Summary: The five words that irritated Kiba the most were coincidentally the ones he heard most often, "You should have known better". But how was he to know that such a simple lapse in judgment could lead to such unexpected results. Kiba/Sakura
1. Eclipsing the Dog's Nose

**Should Have Known Better**

By Cute and Fluffy

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**Standard Disclaimer:**

**ロ **I do not own Naruto or any of the characters contained therein. This story is not for profit. The plot and any original characters I may create, however, are my own.

**ロ **This story is rated **T** for violence and language.

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**Chapter 1: Eclipsing the Dog's Nose**

When Inuzuka Kiba woke up that morning, he had no reason to suspect that it was going to be anything other than a normal day, as far as jounin were allowed to have normal days that is. He woke at the same time he always did on his days off, 5:28 AM and exactly two minutes before his alarm was set to go off. He then got up and began his morning routine: he stretched for fifteen minutes followed by a twenty minute routine of various calisthenic exercises. Afterwards he pulled on a pair of shorts and a wife-beater and he and Akamaru went on their early morning run.

The one thing that Kiba actually liked about waking up early was his run, in fact the only thing capable of pulling him out of bed that early was the eager anticipation he always felt when thinking about it. That and fear of Tsunade's anger should he be late for a mission, of course. The village was quiet and serene, freed from the cacophony that usually assailed his sensitive ears. The variety of smells wafting about on the early morning air, the feel of the wind rushing past his face, his legs pounding the ground beneath him, all combined to give him a rush rivaled only by the feel of a good fight. But however good Kiba was at sticking to his routine, he had never been able to settle down on a single route for his runs. Somehow it seemed almost sacreligious to Kiba to do so, as a great deal of the experience for the Inuzuka was delighting in discovering the hidden sensations that Konoha had to offer. So it wasn't a surprise to Kiba when he found himself running through a training field that he had never seen before. However, what was a surprise to him was the fact that the field was currently occupied by none other than Haruno Sakura.

Now, it wasn't as if Kiba had anything against Sakura. Not at all, in fact he counted her among his good friends. She was, after all, a proud member of the Rookie Nine. No, Kiba simply hadn't expected her to be at a training field this early in the morning, much less a field that looked to be more mud than dirt. It had been raining particularly viciously in Konoha for the past few days and most fields were in rather poor condition. And this particular training ground, while situated on a hill making it a bit more dry than some of the other ones he had seen, was still a disaster. And even worse, it was a bona-fide nightmare, even for a shinobi, to reach. The rain from the storm had run off the top and collected around the bottom of the hill, turning the surrounding area into a veritable swamp. Kiba doubted that there was a single ninja in the village that could reach the top without getting dirty. Perhaps Jiraiya, the pervert was so dirty to begin with the mud would probably slide right off.

Now, Kiba wasn't one to care about the fact that he might get muddy. In fact, if one were to ask him, he'd have to say he rather enjoyed the mud. Perhaps it was a fallback to his childhood and all those rainy days spent playing in puddles and making mud pies. Regardless, he always welcomed the chance to get dirty on these runs of his. It always seemed to help him get more in touch with his inner canine. What had left him so shocked though, was the fact that Sakura seemed to share the same disregard for mud that he did.

Now, it's not like Kiba was stereotyping her or anything. For once, he actually had good reason for one of his assumptions. Anyways, it certainly wasn't as if he was the only who believed that she wasn't the type to let herself get all mud-splattered like that. He could remember the last time that Shikamaru had gotten himself in the hospital. He and Shino had been participating in some no-holds barred sparring when Hinata had rushed over to them with the news and the trio had rapidly rushed to the hospital to check on their friend. Of course, Kiba, being who he was, never thought that his being dirty might matter to the nice medics at the hospital. After all, it wasn't as if he had intentionally gotten dirty. It wasn't his fault that the field he and Shino had been sparring in had looked eerily similar to the ones at the bottom of the hill. Nor was it his fault that the Aburame had gotten in some particularly vicious hits that morning that might have caused him to bleed just the tiniest bit. Besides, it was all in service to Konoha. They should be welcoming such a dedicated and caring shinobi as himself with open arms.

Sakura had quickly relieved him of that delusion. She had torn into him so badly that even Akamaru was left whimpering with his tail between his legs. Grabbing him roughly by the ear, she had dragged him away to a small, but fully functional bathroom behind one of the nurses' stations and, reaching into the tiny shower, had turned the water on cold and had thrown him bodily into the freezing water, all the while completely ignoring his most forceful protests and desperate pleas. He distinctly remembered the wicked smirk that had crossed her face as he came plodding back into Shikamaru's room looking distinctly like a drowned dog.

So it was completely understandable that Kiba reacted to the sight of Sakura looking much like he had before his impromptu shower with a bit of shock. It was at that point that he should have realized that he would be much better running home and hiding beneath his covers; a dirty Sakura had to be some sort of horrible omen. Unfortunately for Kiba, the Inukuzas never were any good at reading omens and their curiosity was simply too strong for their own good. So, like any good Inuzuka, he girded his loins and went over to greet Sakura.

Although he didn't doubt that she had noticed his presence before then, it wasn't until she had finished the kata she had been running through and he started getting more than an inkling of impatience that she acknowledged his presence. Not that he minded... much. After all, if somebody had interrupted him during one of his kata he would have been quite pissed. So he politely (Which, had he taken the time to think about, he should have realized was yet another bad omen in and of itself. After all, who ever heard of a polite Inuzuka?) stood by and waited for her to speak. "Morning, Kiba, Akamaru. What are you guys doing out here so early?" she finally asked.

"I'll have you know that me and Akamaru always go running around this time. I'm more curious as to what you're doing looking like, what was it she said again Akamaru?" The hound barked back her response even though all three of them knew Kiba remembered it quite well. "Oh, that's right. Something the dog dragged in."

He was somewhat appeased when he saw the slight blush that rose to her cheeks and the scent of embarrassment rose faintly from her skin. At least she had the decency to feel somewhat guilty about her treatment of him, even if outwardly she tried to appear like she could care less. "For crying out loud Kiba, that was a hospital! Do you have any idea how nasty you were?" He gave her a deadpanned glare but she ignored it and continued. "You could have gotten someone real sick! What if you had gotten Shikamaru infected? With those wounds he could have died!"

"For god's sake woman, that doesn't mean you have to throw me into a freezing cold shower by my ear!"

That smirk he remembered seeing in the hospital came back and even Akamaru snickered, heedless of the glare his partner gave him, when Sakura bit back, "Yes, it did."

Kiba gave an exasperated sigh and looked up at the slowly brightening sky as if to ask the gods 'Why me?'. "That still doesn't answer my question though."

"Oh, I'm just waiting for Lee."

A smirk eerily similar to the one Sakura wore just moments ago appeared on Kiba's face. "Waiting around for Lee, huh? I wonder how Naruto'd feel about that?"

"Not like that, you moron." She swung at him, but he had already stepped back, a roguish grin widening across his face at her blush. "I've been doing some extra training with him on my taijustu. I could probably teach you a thing or two now." He could practically see the challenge oozing from her eyes.

"Ha, as if! Ain't that right, Akamaru!" The dog barked his agreement.

"Well, if you're so confident how bout you prove it, Kiba-kun?"

In hindsight, he should have known the minute she tacked that kun onto his name to just turn around and leave. For Kiba it was the worst of omens, nothing good ever happened when somebody called him kun, and if had been one of those superstitious Hyuuga he probably would have. Of course, if he had been a Hyuuga he probably wouldn't have gotten out of bed that morning to begin with for fear of the Monkey's Butt eclipsing the Dog's Nose while bisecting the Dragon's Teeth or some other such nonsense (Outside of Hinata, Kiba really didn't have a terribly high opinion of the Hyuuga). Hinata seemed to be the one exception to the rule, but then again he figured it was just the gods trying to make up for forcing her to put up with that stuck-up family of hers. But the last time his mother had used it, for instance, she had ended up breaking their brand-new tv when the frying pan that she had been attempting to smack his father with slipped out of her fingers and went flying. When Kiba had asked why she had been attempting to harm his father with a frying pan his dad had given him a wicked grin and sent him off saying something about understanding when he's older (that had been almost a decade ago). The thought of what he could have potentially walked in on in that kitchen was a recurring theme in his worst nightmares.

Either way, Kiba really did know better than to stick around when someone called him kun. It was bound to cause trouble and he already made enough of that on his own. But for some reason he suddenly heard himself saying, "Anytime, anywhere, forehead. I'll show you how a real ninja fights."

He also should have known better than to use Ino's favorite nickname for the girl. But it was an extremely effective way to get her riled up and that had been his foremost goal at the time. Still, he yet again should have realized that by this point he was practically begging the gods to strike him down. One can only tempt fate so much before she sends destiny to screw with you. Any Hyuuga could tell you that.

Still, it did get the desired results. Her eyes blazed and he almost could have sworn he saw a vein pop out on her forehead. "Right now. Taijutsu only, no Akamaru."

"I don't think so! Akamaru is as much a part of me as that strength is of yours."

"Fine, I won't use my strength and you won't use Akamaru, deal?"

He felt a strange sense of foreboding come over him at that. Of course, by this point it had become a matter of pride and therefore no amount of foreboding was going to prevent him from defending both his honor as an Inuzuka and his masculinity. He just knew that if he let himself get beat by a girl that Naruto was never going to let him live it down. They were still cracking jokes about that first Chuunin exam.

So when she dropped down into her fighting stance Kiba quickly followed into his own. If Kiba was completely honest he would have to admit to feeling a bit of trepidation at the prospect of fighting Sakura. He could count the number of times he had been on missions with the pink-haired kunoichi on one of Akamaru's paws. And as Team 8 had stuck with each other and continued their training together, even while the other teams of the Rookie 9 had broken up, Kiba had never really had the opportunity to train with her either. So he had no idea what to expect from her, especially if she was taking taijutsu tips from Lee. Still, the Inuzukas had never backed down from a fight and Kiba didn't plan on being the first.

She came at him first with a roundhouse kick that would have taken off his head if it had landed, even without her chakra enhanced strength. He jumped back both to avoid it and put some distance between the two of them, but Sakura didn't give him any time to recover. By the time he had regained his footing he looked up to see her coming at him with a powerful right hook. Unable to dodge, Kiba was forced to throw his arms up in a hasty block. He couldn't help wincing as it landed, even without her chakra the woman could still pack a wallop.

She had gotten much better since the last time he had watched her fight, Kiba had to give her that, but not quite as good as he had feared. Even so, unable to rely on the Shikyaku no Jutsu or Akamaru, Kiba was not going to have an easy time with her. Her speed almost rivaled his and he was feeling somewhat hard pressed to block all her attacks. It didn't help that he was finding her quite distracting either. The determined glint in her eye, the slight grin on her face as she pressed her offensive, the rise and fall of her chest and her breathy pants. Not to mention the way she smelled, of sweat and earth and underneath that an intoxicating scent that he'd be hard pressed to describe. Yes, quite distracting.

Finally, he managed to smack one of her punches to the side and counter with a jab of his own that forced her to back away to avoid. The two combatants stared at each other, both slightly out of breath from the exertion. Letting a wild grin spread across his face at the sight of her, Kiba couldn't quite help taunting the pink-haired kunoichi. "Gotta say Forehead, I'm kinda impressed. It seems Lee really has rubbed off on you." He waited a moment and watched as she couldn't help preening a little at the compliment, "It looks like you're missing spandex though..." He couldn't help shivering a little at her gasp of outrage even as he laughed at the look on her face.

The pissed-off kunoichi came at him again, this time managing to land a few good hits as his laughter slowed him down. Despite the pain, the Inuzuka still couldn't help egging Sakura on even further. "I can see it now..." he gasped between laughs and twinges of pain, "Haruno Sakura... The Beautiful Pink Beast of Konoha." She got even faster, her anger feeding her attacks. But the magnificent flush that washed across her skin was more than worth it in Kiba's eyes.

Finally, the Sakura landed a nasty jab on his cheek that sent him flying back several feet. Getting up, Kiba gingerly probed his throbbing cheekbone and winced at the jolt that raced through his body at the touch. He had no doubts that that was going to leave one hell of a bruise. It was more than worth it though, this was the most fun he had had in a long while. That infamous wild grin of his came back full force. "It's my turn now, pinkie."

This time, Kiba charged, feinting with a right jab while following through with a spinning roundhouse kick that Sakura only managed to block. When Sakura attempted to counter with a kick of her own, Kiba dropped down into the four-legged stance he usually reserved for the Shikyaku before coming back up with a powerful elbow strike to her ribs as her momentum carried her partially around and exposed her side.

Sakura flew back and Kiba jumped right after her, somersaulting in mid-air and coming down with a powerful heel strike. When she managed to block he used her hastily crossed arms as leverage to propel him behind her and came at her with a leg sweep as he landed just behind her back. Jumping over it, Sakura jumped away from him again, trying to put some distance between her and her attacked, while twisting her body mid-jump to face him.

Again, Kiba refused to give her time to recover. Once again, dropping into his four-legged stance before launching himself into a bastardized version of the Tsūga, which was perfectly legal as it was technically a taijutsu technique. Unable to use it efficiently though without his Shikyaku no Jutsu, he wasn't at all surprised when she dodged. Instead he halted it's spinning momentum and managed to flip his body around, landing feet first in a horizontal crouch against a nearby tree. Using it as a springboard, he flew at Sakura with a rising kick that she again barely managed to block.

As he tried to land, Sakura attempted to counter-attack, coming in with a powerful left-handed punch. However, instead of blocking it like she had anticipated, Kiba turned slightly to the side, letting her brush his chest, before grabbing her wrist in his left hand and dropping back down into his four-legged stance, pulling her down and off to the side. Sakura, yanked off-balance like that, was unable to prevent him from hopping off a bit to the side and sweeping her legs out from under her. As she fell, Kiba twisted his body and her arm out from underneath her and managed to straddle her in a painful pin as she hit the ground.

Kiba took a moment to try to get his breath back and he noticed Sakura doing the same. She had turned her head to the side, facing the arm he was supporting himself with, to keep from breathing in face-fulls of damp dirt and her pink locks had fallen away from her face, exposing the delicious-looking curve of her ear. After a few seconds, he bent down to whisper some sort of delightful taunt in her ear but found he couldn't remember it when she shifted underneath him, reminding him quite efficiently of their proximity.

Her waist brushed intoxicatingly against his inner thighs as she tried to rid herself of whatever discomfort ailed her. Her shirt had ridden up, exposing the small of her back and the muscles that moved sinuously there, captivating his gaze. The breathy pants that she was making, the feeling of control as she relaxed underneath him, the feel of her breath on his arm as he leaned forward to put pressure into his pin all affected Kiba in ways that he would much rather they didn't. But worst of all, was the smell of her. Gods, he had thought it intoxicating before, but up close it was far worse. That scent had him totally captivated and was just so uniquely her. He had no idea why he had never noticed it before. With his mind clouded by her presence, he never even realized that he had bent down to nuzzle the crook of her neck in a desperate attempt to get closer to her scent until he heard his voice, huskier than he had ever heard himself sound before, "Gods, you smell good..."

Somehow, his voice and the sharp intake of her breath at the intimate contact penetrated the haze that clouded his mind. Suddenly the saying that hindsight is 20/20 never seemed more true as the only thought that accompanied his newfound clarity was, 'You know... I really should have known better...'

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**Quick notes for this chapter:**

**1.** I seem to be a fan of unusual couples, but I just can't help but think that Sakura and Kiba would make a cute couple. For all his bluster, I think Kiba's just a big puppy dog and while he may be loud and obnoxious at times it's my opinion that that doesn't mean that he doesn't know how to appreciate a comfortable silence. You can't spend every second with someone (Akamaru) without being able to. And I think that Sakura needs some one who can cheer her up with his antics when he needs to, but is also able to just quietly sit back and support her. In my mind, Kiba fits both criteria. You're more than welcome to disagree, but why are you reading this if you do?

**2. **This is only a side project so don't expect regular updates here. I'll write them up as the mood strikes me and post them on here, but I won't be intentionally setting aside time to work on this.

This doesn't mean that I don't intend to finish it. I really like the story and have every intention of seeing it through to its conclusion, but just that updates won't necessarily be as quick as you might like.

**ロ** If any of ya'll have any other thoughts on the story, please let me know. This story is as much for your entertainment as it is my edification. Your input is greatly appreciated and will be given the consideration it deserves.

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Published on: 9.28.08 (12:31 am)

Updated on: 10.10.08 (5:50 pm)

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Jak

ジャック (Jyakku)


	2. A Lethal Reminder

**Should Have Known Better**

By Cute and Fluffy

* * *

**Standard Disclaimer:**

**ロ **I do not own Naruto or any of the characters contained therein. This story is not for profit. The plot and any original characters I may create, however, are my own.

**ロ **This story is rated **T** for violence and language.

* * *

**Chapter 2: A Lethal Reminder  
**

Sakura bit back a curse as the buzzing of her pager tore her out of a delightful dream about that morning in the training field two weeks ago. It wasn't the first time she had dreamed about it and she was not disappointed in the least to know that it wouldn't be the last. However, she was disappointed that the damn hospital interrupted what was looking to be an exquisite ending to an extremely vivid dream.

Like it wasn't enough that they had to steal her sleep, but they wouldn't even let her enjoy the little she got.

It had been little over three hours ago that she had finally gotten off one of the worst shifts she had ever had to pull at the hospital. Thirty-six hours. Thirty-six hours of absolute misery as she tried to cover for a duo of surgeons that had suddenly decided that they weren't going to come in. Thirty-six hours without showering, without a half-decent meal, and going through operation after operation until they blurred together.

And now that she had finally that she'd been able to go home and get some sleep, they were calling her back after all of three hours of rest.

As she climbed off the couch where she had fallen asleep (she had been too tired to make it to her room) she knew that she should just go, climb in bed, and pretend that she never even heard the damn thing. Perhaps she could smash it and then blame it on Naruto. He wouldn't get in too much trouble for it; Tsunade had never quite mastered the ability to stay angry at the loud-mouthed blonde. But while the thought was extremely tempting, the moment she saw the number flashing on it she knew that wasn't even an option. This wasn't just the hospital paging her, this was Tsunade. Whatever it was had to be serious.

Spurred into action, Sakura quickly changed into a new set of scrubs and climbed out her window and jumped to the rooftops. As she raced towards the hospital, she tried to remember what had happened the last time Tsunade had paged her. If she recalled correctly, a bunch of kids had somehow gotten hold of some exploding tags and damn near leveled their apartment complex. Fortunately, it had been in the middle of the day so casualties weren't as bad as they could have been, but few people survived the blast and the ones that managed to survive the trip to the hosptal had been in bad shape. The ANBU rescue team had only ever found pieces of the kids responsible for the explosion.

She remembered she had been enjoying her day off when she had gotten the page and had grudgingly rushed to the hospital. By the time she had gotten there, four of the thirteen that had been brought in had passed away and another three on the verge of it. Girding her loins for a miserable 48 hours, Sakura had plunged right in. Her estimation hadn't been far off; it had taken the best medics Konoha had 37 hours to save six of the remaining nine. The last one had died on the operation table from massive internal hemorrhaging. A pall had hung over the hospital for months.

Thankfully, the sight of the hospital pulled her out of her depressing ruminations. Leaping down to the ground, she sprinted through the front doors, barreling down an orderly in the process. The nurses at the front desk didn't even give her a second thought. They knew she knew where to go.

As Sakura burst through the doors that housed the hospital's ICU, she was greeted by complete chaos. The voices of medic-nins shouting orders filled the air as nurses skittered about like mice. Fortunately, Tsunade had chosen that moment to exit one of the operating rooms and it was with no small feeling of trepidation that Sakura rushed over to her, "What's going on?" she shouted over the noise.

"One of our ANBU teams ran into an ambush right inside our borders. They were lucky that one of our jounin patrols happened to be in the area and had rushed to their aid, otherwise they'd all have been killed. As it is, the ANBU had to be carried back unconscious. All of them are in critical condition"

"What do you need me to do?" Sakura asked.

"One of them took a poisoned kunai to his shoulder. I have no idea what it is, but it's nasty stuff. You're the only other one that can deal with this poison and I already have my hands full elsewhere. His external injuries are minor, but if you don't get that stuff out of his system, than he'll be dead before sunrise. He's in Room 6."

Sakura nodded once and started over to the operation room, before a last comment from Tsunade caused her to look back, "And Sakura... try to remain professional."

While she was confused at the cryptic comment and a little offended that Tsunade felt she needed to be reminded, all that was wiped away as she barged into the room and recognized Kiba lying there on the table. She felt the blood drain from her face as, for one of the few times in her medical career (and the first involving someone other than Naruto), she began to panic. She just couldn't do it. Visions of Kiba dead or crippled because she messed up began to swarm through her head and for a moment she felt faint.

But as she looked around at the medics just standing there, waiting expectantly for her orders, she realized she had no choice. Tsunade knew very well that Sakura wouldn't be able to remain objective, despite her reminder otherwise, and she wouldn't have assigned her apprentice to him if there had been anybody else able to save him.

The next nine hours were a blur, as she painstakingly extracted every last bit of poison from his system. It was a excruciatingly slow process; his blood stream had to be completely purged before she could even begin the more delicate process of drawing it out of his muscles and organs. It took every bit of her self-control not to panic and mess up the procedure.

Like the one that she had previously pulled out of Kankuro, she had never come across this kind of poison before. Whatever sadistic bastard had created it had really wanted his enemies to die in as painful a manner possible. It was some form of necrotic poison that had initially attacked his blood cells, resulting in a near lethal decrease in blood volume and pressure. As it continued circulating through his body, it had begun assaulting his internal organs as well, starting with his heart and continuing on to his liver and kidneys. When they combined the organ failure with the hypovolemia, Kiba was lucky that his organs hadn't been reduced to mush.

The moment she could no longer detect traces of it in his body, Sakura staggered away from Kiba and collapsed, slightly hysterical, against the wall. Now that the poison was no longer interfering with their operation, the other medics could begin the arduous process of repairing all the damage it had caused. First his circulatory system would have to be almost completely rebuilt to repair the extensive decay of the vessel walls, otherwise they risked rupturing the weakened walls of some important vessel during the operation. If that happened the blood loss would undoubtedly kill him.

Then each of his organs then had to be checked thoroughly for any traces of poison that she may have missed, before healing the damage. Necrosis was every medic's nightmare; it wasn't just a matter of repairing the damage in the organs, parts of them had quite literally died and would need to be replaced. The dead tissue had to be carefully removed and extracted from the body and new tissue replicated from scratch to replace it. Both of the operations were extremely delicate and required a chakra control far beyond that of the average medic. If he had been brought anywhere other than Konoha's hospital, Kiba wouldn't have had a chance. As it was, Sakura still wasn't sure that he'd survive.

Either way, Sakura's job was finished and every person in the room knew it. Her nerves already frayed from operating on one of her dearest friends, she was in no state to attempt such a delicate surgery. As the remaining medics began evaluating the full extent of the damage, a nurse gently escorted Sakura out of the room and, at Sakura's stammered request, over to the observation deck. She collapsed gratefully into one of the chairs provided.

Seconds blurred into minutes and minutes into hours as she watched the operation. She felt strangely detached from the situation and a part of her realized vaguely that she had slipped into a state of shock. She was somewhat aware of talking to people, nurses bringing her food and drink and urging her to get some sleep, but remained in a daze until she felt two powerful slaps across her face. She looked up to see Tsunade staring concernedly at her with a nurse standing next to her. All of the sudden the worry and fear of the past few hours came flooding back to her and with a sob she threw herself into her teacher's arms.

"Shh... It's going to be okay..." Tsunade whispered reassuringly as she comforted her distraught student. "Everything's going to be alright. Come on, let's sit down." She led Sakura back over to the chairs and pushed her gently into one.

Sakura could feel embarrassment overtake her as she recovered from her outburst. "I'm sorry," she stammered apologetically, wiping her eyes. "I'm so tired and everything just kind of hit me all at once and..."

"No, it's my fault for making you do that." Tsunade said quietly. "But it had to be done, nobody else would have been able to get the poison out in time."

Sakura sniffled. "I know. But that doesn't make it any easier..."

Tsunade grinned sadly, "No, it never does."

The two sat in silence momentarily as Sakura finished composing herself. "How's he doing?"

"The medics think that he's going to make it. Their unofficial diagnosis, apparently, was that's he's simply too damn stubborn to die," Sakura gave a weak grin at that, "But it was a close thing. His body's barely stable right now; he's going to need weeks of intensive treatment if he ever wants to go on active duty again. Whatever it was really did a number on his system."

Sakura sighed in relief as she felt the near painful tension in her body loosening now that she knew he'd be fine. "And the poison?"

"I've already had what you extracted sent down to the lab to be analyzed. Hopefully we'll have an antidote for it before too long to be added to our standard field kit. I sincerely hope that we don't see it again, but it's too dangerous to risk not being prepared for it."

Ashamed at her callousness disregard, Sakura asked, "How were the other two?"

"They're better off. One of them had only suffered from severe burning over most of his body and the other had been run through and then nearly cleaved in half. But both of them are stable now and the majority of the damage repaired. They should be up and moving within two weeks and able to get back on duty."

Tsunade hesitated for a moment, before continuing, "Sakura... you really need to get some sleep."

"But..."

"You know very well that there's nothing you can do. I'll have them get you an empty bed and I give you my word that if there's any significant change in his condition I'll wake you up." Seeing Sakura hesitate she repeated gently, "Sakura, I'm saying this as one friend to another. Please don't make me order you as your Hokage."

Sakura sighed. "Fine, but if I find out something happened and you didn't let me know, I'll..." she paused to think of a suitable threat, "I'll set Lee on that hidden stash of sake you keep in your office."

Tsunade laughed. "Fine, as long as you leave the one in Shizune's alone."

--

By the time Sakura woke up, day had come and gone and the sky was already darkening again. She swore as she realized how much time had passed and rushed back down to the ICU to check on Kiba. When one of the nurses saw her rush into the lobby, she pointed Sakura to the room they had moved him into. As she opened the door she saw with a sinking feeling that he was still on life-support. However, she was startled out of it as someone spoke behind her, "Don't worry. That's only as a precaution. He's going to be just fine."

Sakura whirled around to see an older medic-nin standing behind her offering her his hand. "I'm Dr. Sanosuke. It's a pleasure to finally get to meet the woman I've heard so much about."

Sakura blushed. "How's he doing?"

"Well, we managed to repair as much of the damage as possible, thanks in no small part to you. That was an absolutely incredible feat of medical jutsu you pulled last night. Not to mention pulling it off under those circumstances. If that had been my wife lying there, I would have been hard pressed to mend a broken bone, much less pull a deadly poison out of an already compromised system."

"Oh, we're not involved. He's just been a really close friend since the academy."

She saw a skeptical look flash across his eyes, but he dropped the subject. "Anyways, we don't want to take him off of life-support until his body's managed to regain some sort of equilibrium."

"How long is it going to take him to recover?"

Dr. Sanosuke grimaced. "If he was your average ninja, I would have said years. But an average ninja would have died on that table last night." Sakura paled as she realized just how close he had come to dying, "But at the very least it's going to take him weeks before the damage is completely healed and he can begin working on regaining his combat abilities. Right now his organs are still unstable and he has practically no immune system at the moment. A cold could kill him."

He grinned at her. "But we're not the best for nothing. I think we should be able to take him off life-support in about a week and get him out of the ICU not long after that. We'll have to see how stable his immune system is first.

As she turned around to look at Kiba again, he placed a consoling hand on her shoulder. "Listen, boyfriend or not, you just went through a hell of an ordeal. Tsunade-sama ordered me to tell you to go home and get some rest. She's putting you on paid leave for the next few days for reasons of mental health. I think it's her way of apologizing to you for putting you through that.

He forestalled her denials before she could even open her mouth. "But if I've got the measure of you correctly, you're going to ignore her completely and stay right here." He chuckled as she blushed. "Thought so, I did the same thing when my wife got caught in an explosion in our apartment building a few years ago. Here's my advice, go home and take a nice hot bath. Change your clothes and grab a book or two to read and when you come back, I'll have them set up a small cot in here for you. As long as you promise not to do anything without my permission or one of the other medic's on staff, it certainly can't hurt to have someone of your caliber keeping an eye on him."

She sighed. "Thank you, doctor."

He gave her a reassuring grin and another pat on her shoulder. "It's the least I can do. Now I'm banning you from this room for the next four hours. Go home and try to relax. I promise that nothing's going to happen before you get back." He gently pushed her out of the ICU and into the waiting room. "I'll see you then."

--

The moment the door swung shut, she was immediately assaulted by a distraught pair of blondes. Fortunately her fatigue had dulled her reflexes enough that she was able to recognize Naruto and Ino before she put them into the ICU with Kiba.

Reeling back from their attack, she realized with no small amount of gratitude that it wasn't just Naruto and Ino, but the entire Rookie 9 that had assembled in the waiting room, Shikamaru and Hinata looking like they had come here straight from the field. She must have run right past them in her mad dash to see how Kiba was doing.

She started to try to answer the barrage of questions being thrown at her, but neither Naruto nor Ino were calm enough to let her speak. Fortunately, Shikamaru came to her rescue. Motioning to Chouji to collar the two ninjas and haul them away from her, he shouted just loud enough to be heard over their yelling, "Quiet!" When the two finally settled down, he muttered something about 'troublesome' before asking, "Now what exactly happened Sakura?"

She paused a moment to figure out exactly what she wanted to say, "Kiba was out on a mission when his team was ambushed. During the fight he took a poisoned kunai to the shoulder that nearly killed him. He's going to be fine now, but it's going to take a long time for him to recover."

"When will we be able to see him?" Hinata asked quietly.

Sakura sighed. "I don't know, but I don't think it will be for a while. His immune system is really damaged right now. A cold could kill him."

"What do you mean you don't know?!" shouted Naruto. "You're a medic-nin, aren't you?"

Sakura gave the blonde a stern look. "That doesn't mean I'm in charge of him. Since I'm his friend, professional ethics prohibits it. If it weren't for the fact that nobody else could have gotten that poison out of him last night, I wouldn't have even been allowed in the operating room."

"Then why do you get to see him?" Naruto whined.

The familiar presence of her friends making her feel better, she stuck her tongue out childishly at Naruto. "'Cause they like me better than you!"

--

A few hours later as Sakura stepped out of the shower, she couldn't help but muse that Dr. Sanosuke had been right. The feeling of cleanliness and the hot water had done much to help. With a sigh she walked over and collapsed onto her bed, contemplating the trying events of the past 24 hours. The whole situation would have been so much easier on her if she had never let herself fall for the dumbass. She could almost hear herself from her post-Sasuke days scolding her, 'I thought you had learned your lesson already. You really should have known better...'

It wasn't really her fault though. Even in her academy days, he had always been so wild and unrestrained that it was impossible to ignore him. And now that he had grown up, she couldn't help but notice that the man simply oozed animal sexuality. Besides, it wasn't like she was the only one with a fascination with Kiba; the rest of the women in Konoha had eyes too, after all.

Unlike them, however, over the past few years since their first Chuunin Exam, she had begun to really get to know the person inside the ninja. And she genuinely liked him. For all his posturing, he was just a big puppy dog at heart. He had somehow always managed to be there for her whenever she really needed something, whether it was just a listening ear after a particularly bad day at the hospital or his help distracting Naruto while they prepared a surprise party for his birthday. The guy was such a sweetheart.

And knowing that, she couldn't help but smile every time he flashed her that bad boy grin of his.

And then, two weeks ago, he blown that slight fascination clear out of the water into near obsession. Ever since she had come into her own under Tsunade's influence, she had found herself eclipsing the majority of the men in her life. So when she suddenly found herself pinned underneath him, felt the raw strength in his arms tempered by his gentle restraint as he tried to keep from hurting her, she found herself being forcefully reminded that he was just as deadly and powerful as she was.

And she found that that excited her.

So when he bent his head down next to hers, she felt each breath he took washing across suddenly over-sensitive skin. And when he began to nuzzle her neck, it was as if someone had suddenly lit a furnace deep inside her. Then as he whispered huskily into her ear it was all she could do to keep from whimpering at the sound of his voice...

Then she had felt a sudden cold wash across her skin and realized he had shot up off of her. But he had looked so cute as he blushingly stammering his apologies, that it had almost made up for the disappointment she felt at his sudden absence. And if she had known that as she let him walk away Tsunade was about to send him on a death sentence...

Sakura startled herself as a choked sob escaped her lips. Taking a few deep breaths to compose herself, she reminded herself that he was going to be okay. She wouldn't have to let him go just yet. But if anything, his brush with death had reminded her that she couldn't just sit back and do nothing and believe that everything would turn out right in the end. She had already made that mistake once with Sasuke. And now that she had found Kiba, she vowed to herself that she wasn't about to make it again.

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**Quick notes for this chapter:**

**1.** First of all, I am not a medical student. I am not a nurse, I am not a doctor, I have absolutely no medical experience at all. So the vast majority of the medical stuff I threw in there came from a combination of House, Wikipedia, and my own (fortunately) very limited hospital experience. If I messed something up, feel free to tell me about it and I will fix it if possible, but all such comments will be taken with a grain of salt.

**2. **I plan on writing only one more chapter and then a short epilogue for this story. While I really like this story, I feel it would be a disservice to the story and everybody interested in it to try to drag it out. At the moment, I don't have any ideas for another Sakura/Kiba fic, but rest assured that it will remain a genre that I'd be interested in coming back to.

**3.** Lastly, I want to emphasize that this is still only a side-project and as such I'm afraid that I have no idea when the next update will be.

**ロ **If any of ya'll have any other thoughts on the story, please let me know. This story is as much for your entertainment as it is my edification. Your input is greatly appreciated and will be given the consideration it deserves.

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Published: 10.10.08 _**(Happy Birthday, Naruto!)**_

Updated: --

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Jak

ジャック (Jyakku)


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